The exemplary embodiments are directed to a maintenance system for an imaging device, and a system and a method of maintaining the imaging device.
In an imaging device, such as, for example, an inkjet printing system, intermediate transfer surfaces are used. The intermediate transfer surface is typically employed with a printhead. Nozzles in the printhead eject an ink image onto the intermediate transfer drum. A final receiving surface is brought into contact with the intermediate transfer drum after the image has been placed thereon by the nozzles in the printhead. The image is then transferred to the final receiving surface. A release agent medium is brought into contact with the intermediate transfer drum to prepare the surface of the drum prior to the next image being formed thereon.
A drum maintenance unit of the related art is used as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,805,191, which is incorporated herein by reference, to deliver a release agent onto an intermediate transfer surface of an inkjet printer. The release agent assists in providing an acceptable release of an ink image upon transfer of the image from the intermediate transfer surface to the final receiving surface. Each image transfer consumes a certain amount of release agent so that the drum maintenance unit has to be replaced periodically when the release agent is fully consumed. Further, pixels and debris may collect on the intermediate transfer surface, diminishing print quality and requiring maintenance or earlier replacement of the drum maintenance unit. Still further, the structure of the drum maintenance unit of the related art may result in limiting the speed in which a printer may operate.